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At a meeting of the European Economic and Social Committee’s (EESC’s) Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, on 13 February in Brussels, Cedefop Acting Director Mara Brugia shared the agency’s key achievements in 2018 and priorities for 2019.

The General Council of Vocational Training (Consejo General de Formación Profesional, CGFP) – an advisory body where education and labour authorities responsible for VET work together with trade unions and employers’ associations – has set up several working groups to boost the VET system. It has several objectives: improving productivity, competitiveness and business innovation; contributing to the employability of young people and adults; and reactivating the social lift towards attractive, well-paid intermediate qualifications.

The report Development of competences: adult learning and entities offering development services is part of the Human capital study (BKL) and was published in October 2018. The results show a level of adult participation in learning activities in Poland higher than usually reflected in the statistics. BKL has been managed by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development in cooperation with the Jagiellonian University since 2009, and is financed by the European Social Fund.

The standard multi-company training programmes are one of the schemes of the Human Resource Development Authority of Cyprus (HRDA) with high participation rates. The main aim of the scheme is the participation of employed people in training programmes, designed and implemented by certified vocational training centres (VTCs) to satisfy companies’ training needs.

Since 2017, and on their request, Cedefop has been working intensively with national authorities and stakeholders in Greece, Estonia, Bulgaria and Slovakia, to support them in strengthening their skills anticipation and matching capacities.

On 12 December 2018, Parliament adopted amendments to the Vocational educational institutions Act to link vocational programmes better with the labour market and to renew the funding principles of vocational schools. The Act also foresees more flexible ways to access vocational training and to update quality assessment. The needs of local employers and the labour force are to be taken into account to a greater extent, vocational studies are to become more flexible, and new forms of study will be piloted in cooperation with local governments.

Speaking to over 1 300 French vocational education and training (VET) stakeholders at the 16th université d’hiver (winter university) event on 30 January in Biarritz, Cedefop Acting Director Mara Brugia focused on the challenges European VET is facing and the policies to overcome them.

Sectoral professional committees (SPC) are advisory bodies formed to ensure cooperation between all VET stakeholders. They aim to support the effectiveness of the qualifications system in a specific economic sector as well as the labour market relevance of vocational training programmes in a specific economic sector/group of activities.

Experimental implementation of dual education has been introduced from the school year 2018/19. Four vocational education and training (VET) programmes are offered in 11 VET schools and 156 students enrolled. Experimental implementation is based on the Model of Croatian dual education which defines main principles and aims, organisation of education process, financing, participants and their roles, access to and completion of programmes and stakeholder partnerships.

The results of a study carried out in general education schools in spring 2018 indicate that learners and their parents prefer general over vocational education and training. Vocational education is not an attractive enough option for young people. Teachers working at general education schools also prefer learners continuing their studies at general secondary schools and universities.

Danish vocational educational and training (VET) is still suffering from lack of attractiveness and high drop-out. The Danish parliament has agreed on several new initiatives aimed at making VET an attractive choice and supporting completion. The initiatives focus on content and quality of VET provision, and on easing progression from primary schools into vocational education for young people.

Léargas is the national agency for managing international and national exchange programmes for all education sub-systems, including the post-secondary non-tertiary sector, where most vocational education and training (VET) occurs in Ireland, but not higher education. The agency is owned by the Department of Education and Skills.

The 2018 Education and training monitor report was presented by the Representation of the European Commission in Cyprus and the Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC) at a special event that took place at the EU House in November.

Significant changes in legislation governing VET take effect from November 2018 with the amended Bulgarian Vocational Education and Training Law. They concern the structure and functions of the National Agency for Vocational Education and Training (NAVET), dual VET, licensing procedures and the work of Vocational Training Centres (CVTs). The changes aim to improve the performance of VET institutions and the governance of the VET system.

Does vocational education and training (VET) have a positive image in Slovakia or Spain? How likely are VET graduates to continue to higher education in Cyprus or Germany? Answers to these and many more questions are provided in Cedefop’s European public opinion survey on VET country reports.